FREDERIC SERRE
The 1510 West

Robert Miller, the disgraced billionaire and former owner of West Island-based Future Electronics, suffered yet another legal setback last month, when one of his associates – an unidentified 41-year-old woman – was arrested and charged with two counts of luring girls to have sex with Miller.

Miller himself faces 24 counts of sexual assault involving 10 victims, including one case where he is alleged to have sexually assaulted a girl under the age of 14 between February 1995 and February 1996. He is also charged with continuing to assault the girl after she turned 14 until 2000. Police said some of the victims were underage in incidents that were alleged to have happened between 1994 and 2016.

In January, a Quebec Superior Court judge authorized a class-action suit that will be brought against Miller by women who have alleged he paid to have sex with them when they were minors. The class-action now involves about 50 women, some who were as young as 11 or 12 when they first allegedly had sexual contact with Miller. Three others have filed individual lawsuits claiming more than $30 million in damages.

The latest development involving his co-accused relates to incidents that allegedly occurred between 2006 and 2017.

According to Montreal police, the woman played an active role in recruitment and screened candidates before bringing them to meet Miller. Investigators were able to find conversations between Miller and his entourage in his cell phone.

Miller’s legal team has sought to delay proceedings for their 81-year-old client, who they say is suffering from advanced Parkinson’s disease.

“It’s just one postponement after another,” said John Westlake, a retired West Island cop who was hired in 2006 by Margaret Miller, Miller’s ex-wife, to investigate the billionaire.

Margaret Miller explained that she and her ex-husband had gone on a cruise in which he brought a hockey bag. She had a chance to look in the bag and saw it contained DVDs with footage of girls.

“She said, ‘I want surveillance on him. I want to find out who these girls are,’” said Westlake, whose work led to police finally arresting Miller.